Under the Mistletoe
by crimeofimagination
Summary: Jayden and Mia were known to be the unstoppable red and pink duo. But their relationship as friends (and something more) is tested when the world and the Nighloks try to watch them fall. Still, through it all, love prevails.
1. My Red Ranger

It was Christmas Eve, and it was the 2nd time the team was celebrating it together. Nobody in the team was an official dating couple except for Mike and Emily, thanks to Sky who had visited the team from another dimension about 1 year ago. The team had just defeated another nighlok, and most of them were enjoying it. All except for the distant red ranger, Jayden. He had changed quite a bit since the team first met, but still wasn't close enough to the gang. Mia wanted to do something about this, and with Ji's permission, entered Jayden's room.

It was close to the team's practice time, and Jayden had been cooped up in his room all day. Once she entered, she caught a glimpse of Jayden in the corner of the room, meditating. Or so she thought. She got closer to him, until she was literally kneeling in front of him. She waved her hand in front of his face. No response.

She called his name slowly and quietly. "Jayden, hey, wake up. It's almost 10 o'clock. Jayden."

Still, he didn't not open his eyes. Mia sat there for another 5 minutes, until she got really bored. She decided that it was time to go to drastic measures and try to touch him. She slowly touched his shoulder. It felt cold. "Jayden, are you okay?" Again, he did nothing. The pink ranger was annoyed by this. She still kept her cool, but looked at the clock to see that it was 5 till 10. She brushed some of his hair out of the way, and this immediately woke him up.

He opened his eyes so fast, and pulled Mia close to him. "Jayden, what in the world are you doing?!" Jayden felt like an idiot. He didn't realize that he had pulled Mia to his chest.

"Mia, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but are you? You're skin feels cold."

"Hey, you don't need to worry so much about me. I'm fine, see? Alive and healthy. Ow!"

"Jayden, what happened?!"

"My chest is burning so much!"

"Here, let me see." She approached Jayden, and unbuttoned his shirt to see what was his dilemma. Opening it up, she saw a bunch of red scars. "Oh my gosh! Jayden, I have to tell Ji. You're going to skip practice today, and I'm going to stay and take care of you."

"Okay, Mia. Go quickly, it burns!" She ran out of the room and told Ji. He understood and told the others. Mia came back a minute later with a sponge and a bowl of cold water. "Jayden, are you okay?"

"Not really. I need a little help getting on the bed." Mia immediately rushed to his side and helped him up. She took off his shirt and rolled up her sleeves. Slowly, she addressed his wounds by dabbing cold water using the sponge. Jayden was in so much pain that he clenched on to Mia's waist for dear life. He was screaming, but everyone was outside practicing. Ji was standing in the room, watching Mia take care of Jayden. He thought that it was strange, because usually Jayden never let anybody take care of him.

After a few minutes, Jayden had calmed down, and was resting, but still held on to Mia's waist. Mia was kneeling right next to him, brushing the hair out of his face. He was just staring at her. By then, Ji had left to check on the others. Jayden tried to sit up, but Mia shot her head up and kept him down. He sounded annoyed, and Mia was amused by this.

Again, she brushed the hair from his face back and forth. Jayden piped up, "Thanks Mia. I feel much better. Do you think I'll be able to keep practicing?" Mia just lay her head next to his, and replied, "No, but I could walk with you around town until the wounds heal."

"I guess that would be okay."

"I have to go now, Jayden. It's lunchtime and I'm so hungry."

"Alright, but could you do one thing before you leave?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can you do what you did before?"

Mia smiled. She knelt down next to him, brushed his hair away, and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks Mia."

"Anything for my Red Ranger."


	2. On Demand

**Please remember this was written years ago. I promise I've improved since then.**

* * *

Mia couldn't believe what she had done. She kissed Jayden, and even better, he liked it! She was so excited that she would finally get to open up to the leader. She walked out of his room, and sat on the sofa to watch a movie by herself. The only thing she could find was Home Alone, and she hated that movie.

"You call this On Demand?!" She thought to herself. Emily came back from practice and sat next to Mia. "Whatcha watching?"

"Home Alone. They call this On Demand?"

"C'mon Mia. I love this movie."

"Fine, but if you want to change the channel, I'm leaving." Emily gave Mia a big hug and couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. Mia wished she was like Emily. Always saw the bright side of things, and didn't know as much as her which made her think that the world was a happy place. She wished she had a complete family like Emily, because her mother died from Master Xandred's spell. But again, Emily wanted to be just like Mia. The GAP sensor went off, and everyone except for Mia went.

Mia ran to Jayden's room, and he was trying to get out of bed. She went to his side and put him back in bed.

"Mia, what are you doing?!"

"Protecting you. Now lay down, Jayden. I have to go."

"No! Deker is there! I need to go!"

"Jayden, please stay here. I need to go now."

"Mia, if I'm not going, then as your leader, I command you to take the discs." He handed her 3 discs. One to go to Super Samurai Mode, one for the Red Ranger and the other to control the Megazord. She took the discs, quickly changed into the Pink Ranger, and ran outside to catch up with the others. As Jayden said, Deker was there along with Dayu.

"Pathetic humans," Dayu began, "You will never defeat us. Moogers attack!" An army of Moogers came out of the ground and started to attack the rangers. Mia changed into Super Samurai Mode and had a one-on-one battle with Dayu. She managed to hold Dayu back for a few seconds and attack Deker. She hit his hand, and called the others for help.

They had destroyed the Moogers and Mia pulled out the Bullzooka. They inserted their discs and they aimed for the duo. Dayu and Deker moved out of the way, but Mia got hit by one of Dayu's spells. The half-nighloks escaped to the Sanzu River and Mia lay unconscious on the ground.

The other rangers carried her to the Shiba House, and Jayden told Ji that this was exactly what he feared. Mia was placed in the infirmary, and woke up an hour later. She got out of bed and felt perfectly fine. Dayu only placed a spell that didn't affect her physically, but mentally. It started to kick in. She walked outside, but felt a little dizzy.

"Mia!" Emily screamed, and everybody came to the living room to see her. "Yeah, so? I'm awake, now go back to what you were doing. I have my own problems to deal with," Mia said.

The group was flabbergasted to see her act this way. "Mia, what happened?" Kevin asked. "Nothing, now scram." Ji was watching the whole thing, and he called Jayden to talk to him.

"Ji, what's up with Mia?"

"I can definitely tell that she's under a spell. Probably from Dayu. Just like you have to defeat Deker, she has to defeat Dayu, so she'll do anything to stop Mia."

"That makes a lot of sense. Any suggestions?"

"Talk to her a lot more. How about this. Since Dayu can hear everything right now, give Mia fake info about where you will fight Moogers next."

"Thanks, Ji." Jayden left and went to talk to Mia who was sitting on the couch by herself, reading an archive on nighloks.

"Hey, Mia." She just look up at him, and glared. Her eyes turned pink. She was under the same spell that Kevin was under. "So what's up?"

"Nothing. Why?"

"Well, I have a plan to defeat Dayu." Mia immediately put down her book and looked at him. "Well, go on." Jayden told her the whole plan and she gave him an evil grin that made him shudder.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Sanzu River...

"Yes!" Dayu exclaimed, "The Red Ranger has fallen for my plan and now I can defeat him!"

Deker gave an evil laugh. "Finally! I can duel a worthy opponent!"

Dayu sighed, "Don't get your hopes up."

* * *

The next morning, the GAP sensor went off, and everybody ran to the location of the sensor. It was a warehouse.

Nobody was there. Suddenly, Mia walked to the other side of the warehouse and turned around. She demorphed and gave the other rangers an evil grin. Her eyes turned pink, and Dayu appeared. Dayu touched Mia's hand, and immediately, she morphed into a darker shade of pink than her normal ranger suit.

"The rangers will die from their own kind!" Dayu exclaimed. She laughed and went to the Sanzu River. Mia was much stronger than she was before, and she was able to dodge their every move. She was having a one-on-one fight with Jayden and had the upper hand. The others were fighting the moogers. Jayden suddenly got the upper hand when he slashed her arm and made her drop her katana.

He held her and kept her hands from moving.

"Red Ranger! Get off of me!" Mia screamed.

"Never," he calmly said and he slashed her with his katana, making all of the dark magic go away from her. Dayu suddenly appeared and started to attack Mia, who was ready to morph.

"Symbol Power! Go go Samurai!" Mia said as she morphed into the Pink Ranger. She attacked Dayu with all her might. Dayu disappeared and everyone demorphed. When Mia demorphed, she fell to the ground. Her arm was gushing blood while her shirt was stained with it.

"Mia, I'm so sorry," Jayden told her.

"It's alright. You were just protecting the team."

"No. I was protecting you."

Mia smiled and then squeezed her eyes shut from all of the pain. "Are we going home?"

"Yeah." The Shiba House was far from the location, so they called a Shiba Car. Everyone got in, and Jayden made Mia rest her head on his shoulder. On the way home, she fell asleep.

* * *

A Few Days Later...

"Hey Mia, how are you doing?" Jayden asked sweetly.

"I'm okay. My hand hurts a bit, but it's getting there," said Mia, who was sitting on the couch watching Home Alone yet again, "How about you?"

"I've completely healed thanks to you." Jayden smiled, and Mia patted the spot next to her for him to sit down. He did, and once he saw what she was watching he spoke up.

"You call this On Demand?!"

"I know, right?!" They both started laughing and Mia rested her head on his shoulder to rest.


	3. Nuisance

Lately, Mia had been very restless. With her broken arm and weak stomach thanks to Jayden, she felt useless, and wanted to do something more. Her arm was really healing, but her whole body in general wasn't doing so well.

Every afternoon, she and the rest of the team sat down to watch one movie or another. Somebody remarked that they wouldn't like it, but if Mia got to sit next to Jayden on the sofa, she didn't care. Today they were watching Santa Buddies, and Emily squealed with joy. Mike just chuckled and slung his arm around her neck, earning a kiss on the cheek.

Mia was feeling unusually tired and exhausted, so she just rested her head on her Red counterpart's torso. He smiled as he watched Mia slowly drift to sleep. Kevin hated the movie so much, that he would tell everyone to stop laughing because it seriously wasn't funny. Antonio just screamed like a little girl every time he saw a dog.

Jayden looked to see that Mike and Emily were tightly cuddling each other for warmth. Suddenly, Mia started to move around and yawn. She opened her eyes and looked around. Everyone was sleeping on the ground. When she spotted Mike and Emily, she laughed and looked around once more.

"Ji!" Mia yelled. He came rushing to her aid.

"What is it, Mia?" he asked.

"Where's Jayden?!" Ji smiled at this and motioned for her to look up. She did and there was a pair of two familiar blue eyes staring at her.

"Hey," Jayden lamely said. Mia's face turned as red as Jayden's ranger suit.

"Jayden, I am so sorry for sleeping on you."

"Hey, it's no problem. I kind of liked it." The comment earned him a smile from the pink ranger.

She tried to get up from the couch, but struggled from the injuries. Mia muttered an 'Ow' and retreated to lie down on his torso once more. She looked up to see what the leader was doing. He was doing the same thing, and piped up.

"You hungry?"

"Kind of. Did you eat anything yet?"

"No, here, let me help you up." He carefully pushed her upwards so she could sit properly. "Thanks, Jayden." Mia stretched her good arm out, and yawned. Her hair became really frizzy, and her eyes were much smaller.

"What time is it?"

"Around 5. Wanna go out to get something for the guys?"

"That sounds good. I'll get ready." Mia quickly tied her hair and washed her face. Her arm felt swollen, and her whole body felt gooey. She came out, and the guys were all up. Jayden walked up to her and whispered in her ear.

"That's much better. Ready to go?"

"Yeah. Hey Jayden, how hard did you hit me?"

"Really hard. Is something wrong?"

"I just feel gooey and exhausted. My hand's really swollen." Jayden pulled up her sleeve to check her arm. It was a dark red and the huge scar could be easily identified.

"Okay, Mia. We'll quickly go for some fresh air." Mia nodded and they headed out while saying bye to Ji.

"Ow," Mia said to herself. She stopped in her tracks and pulled up her sleeves. The material was irritating her skin. Jayden noticed this and shrugged off his jacket. It was cold, and he didn't want her to get sick on top of her injuries. He put it around Mia's shoulders and she smiled at him. They hurried to the nearest restaurant to order take-out.

"Hey, Mia, are you sure you're okay?"

"I hope I am. It hurts so much. Please don't mention this to anybody except for Ji. If they worried about me too much, they wouldn't be able to focus on their Samurai duties." Jayden was impressed in how well Mia didn't care only about herself and about their required duties as rangers. She suddenly tripped over a block of ice and Jayden's instincts kicked in. He immediately caught her and helped her stand up.

"My gosh. This arm is a nuisance! Ow!" Mia was in so much pain. Jayden held on to her and rushed to the Shiba House. The warmth immediately calmed down the pain and Mia went to the infirmary while calling Emily. They came out half an hour later once Mia's wounds were completely bandaged. She placed herself on the couch and silently ate her dinner. The others were all staring at her.

"...Is... something wrong?" Mia asked curiously.

"Mia," Kevin started, "Are you okay?" Mia was irritated by this and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she opened them and stared at Emily.

"Emily, I think you should go to your room." Emily got upset and muttered 'no'. Mia was slightly annoyed by this and just waited. Emily thought that this was serious because Mia didn't usually act like this. She got up and Mia mouthed a sorry to Emily. Emily nodded and gave her a wink. Mia smiled, then faced the guys.

Her smile vanished.


	4. Cold Secrets

**Important Note: You can now ask me any questions you'd like about my stories on my blog! If you happened to picture a certain scene a different way than described, you can ask me to rewrite it your way on my blog! Just go to my profile to find the link!**

* * *

Recap from Chapter 3:

Mia closed her eyes. She opened them a few seconds later and looked at Emily. "Emily, I really think you should go to your room. Emily refused and muttered 'no'. Mia sighed and waited for her to make a move. Emily thought that Mia didn't usually act like this so it must be serious. She got up and Mia mouthed a 'sorry'. Emily nodded and winked. Mia smiled, and faced the others. Her smile vanished.

Mia sighed. This wasn't going to be so easy.

She motioned for the guys to follow her to the living room. They all sat around her and she dimmed the lights. Mia took out her Samuraizer and fiddled with it for some time until she placed it on the coffee table for a hologram to appear. Mia spoke up.

"What you all are looking at is a holographic video of me and my mom. My mother died when I was 5. Jayden was 6 at the time. Ji was the only other person who knew about this."

The room was silent.

"I remember her talking to me about this. She had a Pink Kanji Symbol on her arm. She warned me about this appearing on my hand, and made me promise not to injure my arm before I got it, or else my right hand would be permanently damaged. I knew it would be hard to keep, but I kept on repeating those words in my head before any battle with a nighlok. I guess that's why it's my weak spot. But, I'm not doing okay because I broke the promise. My mother, Jayden's dad, and the previous Yellow ranger all died of Xandred, and I didn't want Emily to come because first of all, she would be scarred for life, and second, she still thinks her mom is alive."

Everybody just stared at Mia, including Ji and Emily.

"Mia…," said a teary Emily. Mia recognized the voice and turned around.

"Emily, w-what are you doing here?"

"I heard everything! I'm so sorry!"

"JI!" Ji was terrified to say anything, but piped up.

"She refused to stay in her room! It's not my fault!" Mia couldn't help but smile at this. She quickly turned around. "I'm sorry. I failed the team."

Emily ran to give her a tight hug. Mia's eyes widened, but she calmed down once she heard the young Yellow ranger weeping in her shirt. Mike came over, and so did Kevin and Antonio. Jayden just stared at Mia.

Everybody finished their dinner by comforting Mia. Emily even offered to take her shopping. Jayden didn't say one word, but was staring at her arm.

It was time to sleep, but neither Mia nor Jayden could even close their eyes. Jayden got up and headed outside to train. Mia heard something coming from outside, and got up to see what was all the ruckus. She saw the Red Ranger, trying so hard to knock down the dummy's head.

"How cold of a temperature can you bear?" Mia quietly spoke. Jayden apparently seemed to be startled by this, and turned around to see a tired Mia in a nightgown and a cast. No response. She tried again.

"Jayden, please talk to me. I can't sleep either." She heard nothing, so she turned around. Right when she headed inside, he spoke up.

"Not that cold. This is bearable."

Mia turned around and saw Jayden staring at her, twitching his hands. She walked down the steps, onto the training area, until she was right in front of him. "Well in that case, you should train in the dojo."

"What you said today really hurt me," Jayden said. Mia looked down in shame, and felt hot tears swelling up and dripping down her cheeks. She turned around to head to the doors, when she felt a warm hand touch her sleeveless shoulder. Jayden turned her around to give her an embrace. "But I'm glad you told us."

Mia smiled and wrapped her arms around him inside his jacket. The warmth was really making her feel better. Once they let go, Jayden took her arm and dragged her to the bench next to the front doors. He wrapped his jacket around her shoulders.

"Ow," Mia sharply whispered. She looked at her arm and saw a glowing, pink, kanji symbol on her wrist. "It's here," she heard Jayden whisper in her ear. "It is." Jayden squeezed her close to him, and they stayed there until she drifted to sleep. He took her to her room, and kissed her good night.

"Merry Christmas, Mia."

The next day was Christmas.


	5. Missing You

It was another breezy Saturday, and Mia was just sitting on the bench outside in silence. Her wounds from the last battle had completely healed, but she still had occasional stings and pinches from the Kanji on her wrist. She sat there, staring at the hot pink symbol of wind.

Mia checked her Samuraizer for any messages from the others. None. She turned around to peak inside the house. Everybody had gone to the amusement park besides Ji and herself. How hardly she wished everyone was home to keep her company. Especially Emily. …And Jayden. She noticed that lately, he had been very open and close to the team.

Wednesday was Christmas, and he was as jolly as he was the previous year. Mia smiled to herself at this detail. She missed her family so much, but again, the gang was more than family to her. They all looked up to her as a motherly figure and a big sister. Especially when it came to all 4 guys, she would be there to handle their every single problem.

Emily was the most considerate towards all of Mia's ideas. Mia was a role model to her, and she wanted to be exactly like Mia, except for the cooking part, of course. Mia was trying, as hard as she could, to cut down on her cooking.

Mia got up to go talk to Mentor. She was really bored, and lonely, and it would be nice to talk to someone more wiser than her to tell what to do. She saw Ji looking at some articles of nighloks.

"Hey, Ji."

"Oh, hello Mia! You seem down. What's wrong?"

"I just feel really lonely. Any suggestions?"

"Well, it seems your arm has healed, so you can join in battles again. I heard from the others that you are fighting yet another dream monster. Apparently, he has an unknown name, but I could easily identify him in the articles from the description I was given. Would you be willing to assist me in reading a bit more about this nighlok?"

"Sure, Ji. And also, when will the others be back?"

"A little bit more time, Mia." Mia smiled at this and sat on the opposite chair from Mentor. She opened up a book about dream monsters, and immediately, a page with a fat bookmark turned up. The monster was hideous, and she shuddered just looking at the drawing. How terrible it would be to actually see it in real life.

Mia thought about what the gang was doing. What if they were fighting a nighlok right now? No, that wouldn't be correct. The GAP sensor would have gone off then. She was curious to see the team. She was so bored. She rested her head on the palm of her left hand and just stared at the description of the nighlok.

Ji quickly noticed her motives and got up. He spoke up in a loud voice. Mia shot up at this.

"Mia it seems you are thinking about something else. What's going on?"

"Ji, I am really lonely right now. I miss the gang. Is there anyway that I can catch up to them?"

"How about we do that? I'll come too. It'll get really quiet around here, and you should always stick together."

Mia nodded and got ready. She was elated to finally see the gang after about 4 hours. The Shiba Car pulled into the road. They hopped inside and reached the Rainbow Amusement Park before they knew it. Mia wanted to spend a bit of time by herself before joining the gang. Ji trailed off to search for them. She sat at a table and bit into her ice cream.

Immediately, a chill ran up her front teeth and caused them to sting. She hated the feeling and spit her ice cream saliva back into the cup. Her stomach wasn't doing well, but she wanted so badly to see Emily and talk to another girl. Mia sank into her chair. A tall figure in a red shirt sat in the seat across from her. She smiled as she recognized his familiar face. Jayden.

"Hey, you seem lonely. What's up?" He asked in a calm tone.

"I'm not doing so well. What have you all been up to so far?"

"Well, right now, Mike and Emily are killing the dance floor, but in the past hour, it's just been rollercoasters and vomit. You?"

"It's been really lonely and quiet at home without the rest of you. Ji came too. He's looking for you guys. Say, what is this about a dream monster you're fighting?"

"Well, he's actually a relative of the previous dream monster we fought. He works for Xandred, but has a long-time pact with Serrator. I don't know about his relationship with Dayu and Deker."

"Oh. Alright. *Sighs.* What do you want to do now?"

"You mentioned something about Ji looking for us. Let's see how long it takes him to find the others."

"Not long, Jayden. He can track down their Samuraizers or just call us."

"Well on that note, why don't we catch up to the others?" Mia smiled and took the lead. They ended up at the arcade when they heard a bunch of people talking about Mike making a new highscore in a game.

The first people she saw inside were the others. She walked up to Emily and gave her a half-hug. Emily turned around to see Mia and squealed with delight. She was jumping up and down, then returned her gesture. Mike and Kevin walked down from the Dancefloor, and gave Mia a hug.

"Hey guys," Mia began, "Where's Antonio?"

She got a variety of answers saying he was at the city dock. She noted this detail and smiled. Emily piped up.

"How are you doing?"

"Not so good. Stomach has been bugging me like crap."

"Oh. Hope you feel better-" She was cut off by Mike who scooped her up and hugged her.

Mia laughed at the couple and just stood there wondering what to do. After a few minutes, they found Mentor, and the gang headed home.

It was almost dinner, and Mia wasn't getting any better. She decided to stay in her room, and got permssion from Ji. She took out the article about the Dream Nighlok, and studied so hard, that she didn't realize Jayden walking in with her dinner. She noticed once she heard somebody else's voice.

"Whatcha looking at?"

"An article about the Dream Monster we were talking about."

"You seem hard at work. Can I see?"

"Hm? Oh, sure. I just don't understand one thing."

"What's that?"

"If Serrator and Xandred are mortal enemies, then how come if the nighlok is working for both of them, neither of them seem like they have the guts to annihilate him?"

Jayden thought for a few seconds. "I… honestly don't know."

"Uh oh."

"Hey, Mia, don't worry. Nothing bad is going to happen, and if it does, we can always stop it."

"I wish I could believe that."

Jayden frowned at this. She spoke up again.

"You see, I wish I was like Emily. She doesn't know everything that's going on, and she's still young. I wish I would- could believe you. But I'm not like her. I don't believe."

"It's going to be alright. If you want, I could stay here for dinner."

"I guess that would be okay. Just ask Ji." He smiled at this and left. A few minutes later, he brought another tray of food and sat himself on the floor. Mia landed next to him, and they spent most of the night studying all of the nighloks until they fell asleep.


	6. Don't Worry, I'm Listening

"5…4…3…2…1… Happy New Year!" The gang and Ji chorused as they watched the ball from all the way in New York drop. It was an emotional moment for Emily, knowing that her sister would live to see another year. She went over to Mia and gave her a big squeeze.

"Hey, you okay Emily?" Mia asked innocently. Emily let go of the embrace and looked at her with a huge grin plastered across her face.

"My sister is doing great, and I'm glad that I can say hi to her the next time I visit!"

"That's good! Is Mike going with you?"

"Now how'd you know?" Emily replied with an evilish grin. Mike just shot up and was confused, so he piped up.

"Wait, I am?"

"Yeah you are. We're leaving on Saturday. So start packing!"

"Okay, okay!" Mike ran to his room and closed the door, pretending to start packing, but actually went to sleep. The others laughed at this and decided it was time for them to retreat for the "night." Mia couldn't seem to be able to slumber due to the overwhelming feeling of staying at the Shiba House for the 3rdyear in a row. She was extremely excited about spending time with the gang, especially Jayden, she had to admit.

Since the night they both witnessed her Kanji "tattoo", Jayden had been more closer and caring to only Mia. She got up from her now uncomfortable bed, and headed outside to watch the other neighboring houses and buildings turn off their lights to sleep. Mia took a deep breath, not realizing she was in her sleeveless shirt and shorts at midnight.

It didn't matter, because she was caught up in her thoughts about the new year and her resolutions. She kept repeating in her head important points like "reduce the amount of times you cook because the team doesn't appreciate it!" and "practice more since you are losing strength!" Come to think about it, she was turning into Jayden by pushing herself too hard.

Mia sighed, sat on the bench that she always sat on, took another breath, and ran her hands through her hair, stopping halfway. She stared at the dim-lit floor, wondering how she would embarrass herself like every other year. This year it mattered because she finally had an official crush on the Red Ranger of all people. She looked up when she heard footsteps. It, of course, was Jayden, who was wrapped in his red blanket.

Seeing him with the cover made Mia realize that she was freezing out here. She smiled at Jayden. He smiled back, sat down next to her, and wrapped part of the blanket around Mia's shivering shoulders. She cuddled up to him, rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes.

"Can't sleep," he began.

"Me too."

"Why are you out here with nothing to cover you?"

"Honestly, I'm too overwhelmed to remember anything."

"Me too. I just hope we're able to defeat the nighloks. Especially Deker and Dayu."

"Hey, you only worry about Deker, and I'll worry about Dayu. Besides, it seems Dayu isn't that interested in defeating you."

"I know, but it's just that I don't want any of you guys getting hurt."

"Jayden, when we accepted those Samuraizers, we vowed to never back down from our enemies no matter how hard it is, or how much it hurts. I, especially, don't want to put my burdens on you or the others. Already, there's my cooking to worry about, anyways." Mia smiled to herself when saying this.

"Well, I guess you're right. I mean, she's not that hard to defeat, right?"

"You could put it that way, or you could just listen to me, and stop worrying." Jayden got up.

"*Sigh* Alright. Well, see you later this morning, I guess. Happy New Year, Mia." Mia giggled at his comment.

"Happy New Year, Red Ranger." Jayden frowned at this. He walked closer to her, and reached out his hand for her to grasp. She gladly did, and he easily pulled her up. He spoke.

"I like to be addressed by my name." Mia took a step closer to him.

"Happy New Year, Jayden." The 2 eldest rangers retreated to their separate rooms.

* * *

In the morning around 10 o'clock, approximately 2 hours past training time…

Jayden got up and looked at his alarm clock. He gasped and literally stumbled onto the floor when he saw it was 10 and he was really late for training. That was weird. His clock always rang at least 2 hours before 8. He threw on his training clothes and smacked into the door, forgetting he had one. But, he was surprised when he opened it.

Everyone was eating breakfast, and they were not tired at all. Except for Mia, who was ready, but was obviously sleepy. She was tightly curled at the corner of the sofa, and was looking through her iPad for something to do.

"Happy New Year, Jayden!" Kevin exclaimed wildly. Jayden quickly looked at Kevin, smiled, at glanced around at 5 other smiling faces. He smacked his head really hard when it hit him that it was 2014, and the gang was on break. He told everyone what happened, earning an occasional laugh from someone. Jayden went back in his room, and came back a few minutes later with normal clothes on.

He plopped on the couch next to Mia, who was playing Subway Surfers, and was literally crushing numbers on the screen. "Yes," he heard her whisper from next to him. He looked at her to see her beaming at the screen, tapping random buttons and earning prizes of all sorts. The words he remembered hearing from Mia last night when he was half asleep rang in his head once more.

"Just listen to me, and stop worrying." He shot up when he heard Mia softly talking to him.

"Hey, Jayden. Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year. Wow, Mia. You did really well."

"Why thank you! I've been practicing a lot-" She was cut off by a giggling Emily who was jumping up and down. She screamed to Mike, who was right in front of her.

"It's snowing, Mike! It's snowing! Let's go out!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him outside. He was laughing and calling the others to join along. Mia immediately took it as a command and turned off her iPad. She placed it in the spot she was sitting in and looked at Jayden. Offering him a hand, she pulled him up with much effort, ending up with Jayden having to help her a bit.

They walked hand in hand until they reached the backyard with the training area and patio. Mia had to plead and eventually, drag Jayden down the stairs to just walk in the snow. They watched the other four rangers playing in the snow. Jayden took her hand, guiding her to a nearby bench to sit. Mia fiddled with her fingers, staring at them.

"So, what are your New Year resolutions?" Jayden piped up. Mia sat back, facing him.

"Well, my 2 biggest plans are to reduce –possibly stop- cooking as much as possible, and also to practice harder. How about you?"

"Same, except instead of the cooking thing, I'm going to spend more time with you guys and have more fun."

"That's what I wanted to hear." Mia gave him an assuring smile, and for another few seconds, they were just staring at each other, until Mia got hit by a snowball. She tightly closed her eyes as the burning cold feeling rushed through her skin. She opened her eyes to see Jayden looking upset and shocked. She turned to the others and glared. Antonio piped up.

"Sorry, chica! I was aiming for Emily." Mia turned to see Emily right in front of her.

"Emily!" Mia yelled as she smiled and brushed off the snow. Getting up, she balled up a bunch off snow from the ground, aimed for Antonio, who was far away, and threw the ball. It managed to hit him hard on the face. Mike was laughing so hard, as Kevin was cheering. Jayden got up to stand next to Mia, and hit Mike with a snowball.

"OW!" Mike yelped as Emily laughed and ran over to him. She spoke up.

"You're such an idiot. Well, at least you're my idiot." Mike pulled her in, and soon enough, the duo was making out on the ground, covered in snow.

Jayden and Mia were laughing hysterically, and Kevin and Antonio were upset that they weren't in a relationship. Mia walked over to the duo on the ground and cleared her throat.

"Mike, Emily, get up. We're having a new snowball fight. You can save your private business for later." She got no response, but instead, got a snowball thrown at her sweater. She gasped, and screamed the duo's names. They got up, and tried to run away. Kevin and Antonio chased after them, while Jayden ran up to Mia.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little snowball won't hurt, right?"

"You got that right. Let's get ready for the others when they get back."

"Wait, I never said I was on you team…"

"I don't remember that!" Mia started to run as fast as she could, while Jayden chased after her. They found the others having a major fight in the front yard. Mia ran even faster, but Jayden picked her up from behind and spun her in a circle as she laughed really hard. The fun ended as Ji called them in.

One by one, they went in, leaving the duo walking in together.

* * *

A few hours later, Mia was't feeling so well. Already in the past hour, she was vomiting mountain loads and sneezing like there was no tomorrow. Emily took her temperature, and figured out that she had a cold.


	7. Together Forever

Mia hadn't gotten any better by the time she woke up the next day. It was only January 2nd, and yet her year didn't start off well just like all the others. She sighed and got out of bed. From the corner of her eye, she could sware she saw somebody sitting there.

Slowly turning around, Mia exhaled a breath of relief as the figure was none other than Emily.

"Hey Mia. Feeling any better yet?"

"Not really. I have a big hunch this cold's not going to go soon. My year is yet again starting off as a mess."

"C'mon girl! It's not bad at all. You just don't have to play in the snow as much."

"Welcome aboard S.S. Bummer, Mia," Mia thought to herself. She smiled weakly at the cheery Yellow ranger and opened the door so both of them could go outside. Mia noticed that once she opened the door, a sudden burst of cold air blew in her face, making her shiver. The guys came over to her and one by one gave her a hug. She did note that one very special person was missing.

Ji was there, so she wasn't worrying about him. It hit Mia hard in the head when she realized that the color of red was lacking in the room. Jayden was missing.

"Ji?" Mia asked politely with a hint of an annoyed tone.

"Yes? What is it Mia?"

"Where's Jayden?"

"He's outside training. I wouldn't go though. He doesn't seem too happy and you're already sick with a cold."

"Yes Ji." Mia was upset, but couldn't express it because she had just sneezed on Antonio and Kevin and was apologizing a million times. The Gold and Blue Rangers glared at her, watching her every move. Mia ran to her room and shut the door before sneezing once more. This cold was making her 3rdyear with the gang a disaster!

Mia noted that Ji said Jayden was practicing outside. In this weather? He said he couldn't stand this cold of a temperature the other night, so just like she normally would, Mia started worrying about him. She threw on a scarf and a sweater and went outside. Nobody was there in either the front or back yards. She panicked that he had ditched them one more time. She looked everywhere in the house for him but there was no sign. Not even in his room. Mia ran to her room and slammed the door behind her as she threw her frail body on the bed and frowned in her pillow. She called his Samuraizer but there was nobody on the other end.

Suddenly, she heard someone wrestling with her doorknob Mia turned around and saw Jayden. Oh man, he couldn't see her upset like this or he would worry only about her. She quickly sat up, wiped her eyes and turned around. Jayden gave her a suspicious look, but Mia just looked at him.

"Where were you?" Mia asked, her voice sounding shaky from crying.

"Mia, you were looking for me, weren't you? I was in the dojo. You were right. It's much warmer there than outside. So why the sad face?" He came over to her, kneeled down and wiped the tears away from her cheeks. She smiled as a 'thank you' and gestured for him to sit next to her. He gave a worried look and she answered his question before he asked.

"Don't worry. Colds are from viruses, and they're not contagious." He nodded as an affirmative and sat in the empty spot on her soft bed. He didn't think first and lay back, keeping his head on her pillow. It was wet so he sat up. He spoke up.

"Your pillow's wet. Why?"

"I cried." Mia turned away in embarrassment.

"Why?" Jayden became worried and put his hand on her shoulder. She turned to face him.

"I thought you had run away again because of your doubts. I guess I didn't listen to myself and worried too much. I'm sorry for questioning you." She felt tears swell up in her eyes, but Jayden wiped them away quickly. He wanted to avoid anybody crying because he was bad at comforting people.

"But I'm here now, and that's all that matters, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Mia lay her head on his chest, and he rubbed circles on her back. Emily barged in and noticed the duo on her bed. She could help but smile. The young yellow ranger interrupted them as she spoke up, making them jump.

"Unh… you guys, wanna go outside to play?" Immediately Mia shook her head. She couldn't risk getting in an even worse condition than she currently was. Looking to see what Mia said, Jayden replied.

"I'm sorry, Emily. But I'll stay here to take care of her." Mia looked up with a shocked expression. He winked and smiled. The youngster nodded and silently shut the door, leaving the two oldest rangers to mingle.

"Why did you say no?" Mia asked.

"Because I want to spend more time with you guys." He got up to go get her dinner and came back with a tray and a nighlok archive. She gladly took them, and sat on the floor which was covered with a blanket and some pillows. Jayden sat next to her, and he told her about the different nighloks and his past. She slowly drifted to sleep, accidentally landing on Jayden's shoulder. He stopped talking, closed his eyes and enjoyed the silence. All until Mike slammed the door open and woke them both up, earning a variety of hits and screams from the others. The Red and Pink Rangers just sat there, knowing the gang would always be together forever.


	8. Always Being There

Mia stood there, her body weak from the nighlok's attacks on her. But with the rest of the team on the ground, she couldn't back down just yet. Snatching the Super Samurai Disc from Jayden's hand, she morphed into Super Samurai Mode and charged at the nighlok. It was the Dream Monster they were fighting earlier when Mia was injured, and it was much stronger than their normal enemies.

Having the upper hand, the nighlok stole her katana, took out the Super Samurai Disc from the small compartment at the bottom of the sword, and disappeared, leaving the Pink Ranger to demorph on the ground, nearly unconscious. Mia knew she didn't have much time before she passed out so she took out her only source of power, her Samuraizer. But right before she was about to call Ji to get them, the Dream Monster came back, slashing her, stealing her Samuraizer, and disappeared. All that was left of the Pink Samurai Ranger was a dead girl, laying on the ground.

Mia woke up with a thud. She was having another nightmare about the Dream Nighlok, and it was causing her to have unusual night sweats. Looking around, she realized she was in the safety of her room. She couldn't sleep now, knowing it would only cause her to have her fifth night sweat already. Getting up from her bed, Mia stretched her arms and checked the time. It was already 1 am, so it was okay to go have a snack.

She opened the door to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and washed her face to get rid of the bad smell of sweat. Once Mia knew the coast was clear, she headed down to the kitchen to eat anything small and easy to digest. The only thing left was an orange, so she picked it up and headed to the trash can to discard the skin scraps. Pulling out a slice of orange, she sat down at the dining table and just stared at her orange, tossing it around in her hand, wondering what to do. Figuring out that it wasn't helping, she placed it on the table in front of her and buried her face in her arms.

Mia wasn't able to hear anyone coming inside, so she just stayed in her position. She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped up. Turning up to see who it was that would possibly be awake at this hour. Again, the Red Ranger had come to the rescue as he looked down at her with a small smile and pulled up a chair. Mia felt bad that she had woke him up at this hour. She began to speak so she could apologize.

"Hey, Jayden. Sorry I woke you up."

"Hey, I can't sleep either. Besides, I wake up in 2 hours anyways. Might as well get a head start in training anyways."

"Jayden, you should stop pushing yourself too hard. It'll just end up terribly."

"Well, what are you doing here at this time?"

"I just had a nighmare. No biggie."

"Tell me what happened."

"Uh, fine. This dream kept on coming to my head. So we were fighting the Dream Monster, and I was the last one standing. I took the Super Samurai disc and morphed. He took my sword and the disc and disappeared. I demorphed and tried to call Ji, but he came back and killed me."

"Gosh, Mia. It seems serious. So this has been bugging you. Maybe it's a threat from the Sanzu River. They could be trying to tell you something."

"Jayden, what if I make the same mistake? What'll happen to the P-Power Rang-gers?" Tears started to swell up in her eyes as more of them fell on her cheeks. The Red Ranger feared of this happening. He wasn't good at comforting people, but he went for it anyway. He knelt down and wiped the water from her cheeks, then pulled her in for a hug as he felt her shaking with sobs.

"Hey, nothing's gonna happen. We'll be able to come up with something before anything goes wrong."

"Sorry for crying, sometimes I just can't handle it. I feel bad for putting my burdens on you all the time."

"Mia, you don't need to say sorry for everything. I kind of like how you always tell me your problems- did I just say that out loud?" Mia giggled at his embarrassment and got up.

"Maybe 2014 won't be such a bad year," she said with hope.

"Trust me, it won't be so bad."

"Thanks for always being there, Jayden."

"Hey, no problem." She nodded, grabbed her half-eaten orange, and left to her room. Now that she confirmed she had somebody to rely on, she could sleep with relief. Mia knew he would always be there.


End file.
